Some Boks back as Sharks go left field for Ospreys

Cell C Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell will go into his first game as coach of the team with some Springboks back in tow but also with what will be considered a few left-field selections.

The Sharks host the Ospreys in a Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash at HollywoodBets Kings Park desperately needing to halt a two-match losing streak. They lost to the Vodacom Bulls in the match before the break from the international window, and if you factor in the defeat to Leinster in Dublin a couple of weeks before that, the Sharks have lost three of their last four games.

Powell has emphasised the importance of a proper reaction from his team to last week’s humiliating 35-0 defeat to Cardiff, which proved the death-knell to Sean Everitt’s stint as head coach, by bolstering his team with Bok front-row forwards Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonami, as well as returning Bok scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse and wing Makazole Mapimpi.

With the first two mentioned players having played in the last few test matches on tour, the selection does show how seriously the Sharks are taking this game as there must have been a temptation to rest them ahead of an intense phase that starts with next weekend’s debut in the Champions Cup at home against Harlequins and extends through to the festive season derbies.

Lock Eben Etzebeth and Bok skipper Siya Kolisi are being rested this week, with one of the left field selections being that of Sikhumbuzo Notshe at openside flank. Notshe is of course normally a No 8. He did get tried sporadically in the No 6 jersey when he was at the Stormers, but it didn’t work out because the experiment was never continued.

Of course, back then Notshe would have been in the same situation he is now - he had Kolisi ready to come back into the team in that position whenever he returned from either injury or Springbok duty. Still, with last week’s captain James Venter available, it is an interesting call, and an even more interesting call is that of Vincent Tshituka at lock.

Tshituka played all his rugby at the Emirates Lions on the flank and has played there so far for the Sharks so it will be interesting to see how that goes and also to hear Powell’s explanation for the selection.

In another key selection change from last week, Curwin Bosch is back at flyhalf, and what will be interesting there will be the progress Bosch might make towards becoming more comfortable playing at the gainline.

His tendency to want to take the ball deep has been one of the former schoolboy star’s biggest failings up to now, although he did look like he was improving towards the end of last season. The man who the Sharks let go, Manie Libbok, has shown what can be achieved on attack when you have a flyhalf who operates close to the gainline but can also play from the pocket when needed.

Boeta Chamberlain started at flyhalf last week but is moved to fullback for this game. That is the position he should arguably have started in last week once it was ascertained it was going to be a wet-weather game. Anthony Volmink had a poor game as the starting fullback and drops out of the match-day squad completely this week. There has been a reshuffle to the midfield since last week too, with Rohan Janse van Rensburg moving to the bench to accommodate former Wallaby Ben Tapuai.

With Venter moved to the bench and Kolisi rested, plus Thomas du Toit missing because he was red-carded in the test match at Twickenham, the captaincy this week will revert to Phepsi Buthelezi, who slots into Notshe’s place at No 8.

Cell C Sharks team:Boeta Chamberlain, Marnus Potgieter, Francois Venter, Ben Tapuai, Makazole Mapimpi, Curwin Bosch, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi (captain), Jeandre Labuschagne, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Gerbrandt Grobler, Vincent Tshituka, Carlu Sadie, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche.

Replacements:Dan Jooste, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Khutha Mchunu, Hyron Andrews, James Venter, Grant Williams, Nevaldo Fluers, Rohan Janse van Rensburg